The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Award for Excellence in Diplomacy is an annual award given by the American Academy of Diplomacy in recognition of an individual or group who has made exemplary contributions to the field of American diplomacy. It is the Academy’s highest honor and its purpose is to highlight the important contribution of all aspects of diplomacy to the nation’s business. The Award is presented at the Academy’s Annual Awards Luncheon at the State Department in the fall, during which the recipient acts as keynote speaker. Recipients of the Annenberg Award are recommended by the Academy’s Executive Committee and are approved by the Board of Directors.

This year’s Annual Awards Luncheon took place at the Benjamin Franklin Room on Tuesday, November 20, 2018. The event was co-hosted by Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan. The awardee this year was the 13th and 19th White House Chief of Staff and 61st United States Secretary of State, James A. Baker, III.

James A. Baker, III, has served in senior government positions under three United States presidents. He served as the nation’s 61st secretary of state from January 1989 through August 1992 under President George H.W. Bush. During his tenure at the State Department, Baker traveled to 90 foreign countries as the United States confronted the unprecedented challenges and opportunities of the post–Cold War era. Baker’s reflections on those years of revolution, war and peace — “The Politics of Diplomacy” — was published in 1995. Read more here.

Below are some previous recipients of the Annenberg Award. The full list is here.

Former President George H.W. Bush chats with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III in Baker’s private office at Rice University’s Baker Institute in Houston, Texas, after Secretary Kerry arrived on April 26, 2016, to deliver a speech at Secretary Baker’s namesake institution about religion and foreign policy. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

With the support of the Atlantic Council and through an agreement with the Verbundnetz Gas Aktiengesellschaft, a German company, a remarkable segment of the Berlin Wall was delivered to the State Department on Thursday, August 13, 2015, for installation in the U.S. Diplomacy Center. The installation occurred on the 54th anniversary of the closure of the border from East to West Berlin on August 13, 1961.

This unique segment of the Wall is personally signed by individuals who played key roles, including former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, former leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, former Polish President and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, current German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker. The Wall serves as a permanent reminder of our shared history and the indispensable role of our transatlantic bond for the future.

A special ‘bathtub,’ or base, was constructed on the lower level of the U.S. Diplomacy Center to hold and display the Berlin Wall and its 7-foot base piece.

The United States Diplomacy Center has a construction camera if that’s something that interests you. Watch a time-lapse movie via the construction webcam at http://diplomacy.state.gov/construction/234404.htm

On September 3, the State Department held a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for the new U.S. Diplomacy Center. The ceremony was hosted by Secretary Kerry and attended by his five predecessors, former Secretaries of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Madeleine K. Albright, Henry A. Kissinger, James A. Baker, III, and Colin L. Powell. Wait, somebody’s missing! What happened to Condoleezza Rice?

Kerry likely forgot about the 93-year-old Shultz, who, though not in attendance, is still very much alive. Or perhaps Kerry was symbolically eliminating Condi Rice, also absent; she was, after all, a key adviser to the man who defeated him for the presidency in 2004.[…]The groundbreaking for the future U.S. Diplomacy Center began with a before-noon cocktail reception and ended with the six secretaries outside the 21st Street entrance to the State Department, each holding a silver spade embossed with the State emblem. They dug up about a tablespoon apiece of earth in the 90-degree heat and then were promptly relieved of their digging implements as they exited the construction site via a carpeted walkway. “They wouldn’t even let us keep the shovel,” groused Baker.

Of course not. Kerry had already eliminated one former secretary of state. They couldn’t afford to lose another.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the groundbreaking ceremony for the U.S. Diplomacy Center with former Secretaries of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Madeleine K. Albright, Henry A. Kissinger, James A. Baker, III, and Colin L. Powell on September 3, 2014. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

According to the State Department, the USDC (http://diplomacy.state.gov), is a state-of-the-art museum and education center that will dedicate 40,000 square feet “to bringing the story of American diplomacy to life.” This will be our country’s first museum and education center devoted exclusively to exploring the history, practice, and challenges of American diplomacy. The $25 million project is funded by private institutional and individual donors through the Diplomacy Center Foundation.

Night-time rendering oftheUSDC Pavilionhttp://diplomacy.state.gov

Last May, the State Department announced the contract for building the center:

The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced the award of a $25 million contract to begin construction of the U.S. Diplomacy Center—the nation’s first museum and education center devoted exclusively to exploring the history, practice, and challenges of U.S. Diplomacy. The project is privately funded with donations to build a 21st century, state-of-the-art glass pavilion that will become a new public entrance at the Department of State’s headquarters.

GSA will oversee construction and awarded the construction contract to Gilbane Building Company through an open and competitive process. The architectural firm of Beyer Blinder Belle provided the modern concept design. Construction is set to begin early summer 2014 and it will take 18 months to construct the U.S. Diplomacy Center.